MMA Fighting - 'Anything But Fighting' with José Youngs! | Jon Anik Loves Boston Sports | Episode 2
Episode Date: December 6, 2022UFC commentator joins MMA Fighting’s José Youngs on episode 2 of Anything But Fighting. The Boston native opens up his lifelong love of the sports, reflects on some of his favorite memories from th...e Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, and Boston Celtics, looks back on the infamous 'Tuck Rule' game from 2001, breaks down the greatest Boston athletes, and more. He also tries his hand at the mysterious Bucket of Questions to close out the episode. · Follow José Youngs: https://twitter.com/JoseYoungs · Follow Jon Anik: https://twitter.com/jon_anik · Music by Nick Wolf: http://instagram.com/nickwolfmusic · Art by Adam Nelson: https://www.instagram.com/gorilla_the_bear Subscribe: http://goo.gl/dYpsgH Check out our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/u8VvLi Visit our playlists: http://goo.gl/eFhsvM Like MMAF on Facebook: http://goo.gl/uhdg7Z Follow on Twitter: http://goo.gl/nOATUI Read More: http://www.mmafighting.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Support for this show comes from the Audible Original, the downloaded two.
Ghosts in the Machine.
The Earth only has a few days left.
Rosco Cudulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,
but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.
Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible original Blockbuster.
The Downloaded, it's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.
Robert J. Sawyer does it again with this much-anticipated sequel that leaves you asking,
What are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
The Downloaded 2. Ghosts in the Machine.
Available now, only from Audible.
Support for this show comes from the Audible original The Downloaded 2.
Ghosts in the Machine.
The Earth only has a few days left.
Rosco Cadulian and the rest of the Phoenix colony have to re-upload their minds into the quantum computer,
but a new threat has arisen that could destroy their stored consciousness forever.
Listen to Oscar winner Brendan Fraser reprise his role as Rosco Cudulian in this follow-up to the Audible Original Blockbuster, The Downloaded.
It's a thought-provoking sci-fi journey where identity, memory, and morality collide.
Robert J. Sawyer does it again
with this much-anticipated sequel
that leaves you asking,
what are you willing to lose to save the ones you love?
The downloaded two,
Ghosts in the Machine,
available now, only from Audible.
We're listening to the Vox Media Podcast Network.
It's amazing, amazing.
We're just going to run through it.
So before we start,
I do have to say give a thank you to
Gorilla the Bear and my friend Nick Wolf
for the music and the art,
but welcome everyone to another episode.
I know it's been a very long time
since episode one.
Been doing a lot of traveling.
I've been doing a lot of traveling.
I've got detained in Abu Dhabi for a couple hours.
That's right.
Got a random trip to New York for USC 281,
but this is episode two of anything but fighting here with Jose Youngs.
Of course, M.AFunding.com
with arguably the best commentator in combat sports,
John Anik, but more importantly,
one of the bigger Boston sports fans in this combat landscape, correct?
Yeah, I'm still diehard.
You know, certainly I've softened a little bit at 44 years of age
as far as my fanaticism, I get happy for coaches, elderly coaches, and players.
But good to be with you.
We've been talking about doing this for a long time, and we are here live in Orlando, Florida.
Correct.
The whole M.A. fight.
We've got the stick, Mike.
No IFBs, no nothing, no promos to read.
We're ready to go.
So I have to ask you, ranking the Boston sports teams from most, like, where your
leads lies the highest to lowest.
What are we going right here?
Well, the Bruins are four.
So can we just start in the basement?
And again, you know, like...
I'm sorry, Nolan, if you're watching that.
Well, and if you go to, you know, CBS Sportsline, like my username is Sergey 14 for Sergey Sampsonov, right?
So there was a time when I was nuts about the bees, but I grew up a basketball player.
That was my favorite sport.
So hockey was always a distant fourth.
I didn't watch the Bruins a whole lot growing up.
It's hard not to give the Red Sox the number one slot because of the nature of our city, but the NFL is king.
So sitting here talking to you in 2022, I did grow up in a football.
family that had Patriot season tickets when they were the laughing stock of the NFL.
So I will go Patriots 1.
I have to go Red Sox 2, but I mean, it really, the Red Sox and the Celtics are really 2A and
2B.
So yeah, I mean, I really, I'm a big box score guy.
I eat box scores.
I follow all four of those teams.
Hopefully the New England Revolution will win a goddamn MLS Cup before it's all said.
Don't get me started.
But yeah, I would have to say the Bruins in the basement.
And football is king.
Was the Patriots always number one for you?
Because like you said, they weren't that good growing up.
The year I was born in 1990, I believe they were 1 in 15.
Yeah.
So for kids nowadays, when they hear the Patriots, they go, oh, they've been good forever.
That was not the case.
I remember when they made it to the wild card when Pete Carroll was the coach.
Right.
And that was a big deal.
Because everyone kind of says Pete Carroll wasn't a good, because he was the one before Belichick.
And they kind of gloss over his, he was like sandwiched between who's the coach
when the Patriots went to the Super Bowl in 96?
In 1996, Parcell's 86, Raymond Barry, yeah.
Yeah, so it was like Parcel, and then you had, like, Pete Carroll,
and then you had Belichick.
So Pete Carroll's kind of sandwiched it between two of the greats.
Pete Carroll's obviously great, too, but everyone assumes it's like the Cowboys,
where they just have been good forever.
They were terrible.
Really bad.
So you and I are friends, but obviously I was 12.
I was smoking cannabis before this kid was born, okay, right now.
But we got 12 years between us, right?
So, you know, I experienced a lot of lean years as a page.
Patriots fan that you didn't necessarily, right? They won their first championship. You're like
11, 12 years old. I mean, I like to tell people my record as a fan in Foxborough Stadium and
Gillette Stadium is probably 50 games below 500. But the Patriots weren't always king for me.
Nomar Garcia Parr was my favorite Boston athlete of all time. And there was a time that I was so
rabid about the Red Sox that my schedule waiting tables at legal seafoods literally
revolved around when the Red Sox played a matinee versus a night game. I mean, I'm telling you,
bro, 2001, right?
So I'm not that young.
No, no, no.
And I'm literally cutting out newspapers,
the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe every day
and creating like a collage in my downtown Boston apartment
for like a Red Sox shrine.
I'm 23, bro.
I'm not 13.
Sure.
So there was a time when I watched almost 162 baseball games.
Now I don't even have the attention span to watching it at bat.
So I probably should say Patriots 1, Celtics 2, Red Sox 3.
So let's talk about No Mar because he was my generation.
He's kind of, he was God for us going up.
It was him, Pedro, and Movon, were the three.
And then Troy O'Leary kind of came to left field, Carl Leverett,
tried to do his thing, Cliff Floyd, Veritec and all that stuff.
But what are your earliest memories?
Or what are your best memories of, like, that stretch of time,
which I want to say, like, 96 to 03.
Because 04 was when we finally won the World Series.
I say we, because I'm a, people that follow me on Twitter,
it's like Red Sox and then the UFC.
Yeah.
Like the only reason I don't cover baseball is because I don't want to make it a job.
I want to keep that passion.
How much do you watch it now, though?
I listen every game.
Right.
I listen, because I live in Arizona now.
So when they have the, like the America's game, I'll watch.
And then when they come, because they don't come to Arizona often, like every few years.
I go to every game.
This year, though, Memorial Day weekend, they're in Arizona for three days.
How about that?
And I already got my tickets.
I am ready for it.
Maybe the UFC will be in Arizona in May as they have been in the past.
But, no, I took my kids to Fenway Park for the first time last year.
And you're talking about really the prime years as a Red Sox fan.
2003, when Aaron Boone hit that home run in game seven of the American League Championship series,
I'm pissed drunk, I'm like in love.
My girlfriend's upstairs.
I'm taking a piss downstairs.
And all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose.
So I actually miss seeing that live.
And now we can look back upon that, and it's like okay because they broke through in 1 in 04 and in 07 and in 2013 and 2018.
You like that?
But man, like I remember.
remember just, I mean, you talk about like the Super Bowl loss on a Monday walking into your
professional life. Like I just remember acutely after that Aaron Boone home run in 2003,
going back and like waiting tables. Just like, what am I doing right now with my life just being
so upset? But yeah, Nomar was everything to me. And I think I could relate to Nomar in a lot of
ways, right? Like I'm a very impatient golfer. I love the fact that he's first pitch swinging.
He's real jittery. But skill for skill, I mean, in terms of his potential, right, I'm not going to sit here
and say, you know, he's better than Jeter, but skill for skill he was.
He was better than Aeron.
Right.
He just, obviously, injuries played a role,
and there was sort of an unceremonious exit for Nomar at the end of his Red Sox career,
but I will always have a very special place in my heart for Nomar, Garcia,
Parra, born in Whittier, California, July 23rd, 1973, I believe.
God damn.
He, I was glad he realized some success with the Dodgers late in his career because of how
spoiled an end it was in Boston
and yeah I mean all my guys
Antoine Walker didn't end particularly well for him
in Boston and he came back but
yeah I mean no more he's
he's in a black and white photo in my office
to this day absolutely loved that I'm glad you brought
up the O3 home run I wasn't going to tell
this story but people close to me know it I have a scar
on the back of my head for when Aaron Boone hit the home run
I jumped up in a fit of rage
and crushed my head on a ceiling fan
unbelievable so it's there forever because of Aaron Boone
I don't know if you have a
a lower sports moment, and that's a great story.
But for me, I mean, yes, I can look back at a couple of the Patriot Super Bowls
against the New York Giants, but I can't say that, you know, retroactively, like that
Aaron Boone, I just remember so much about that night, just being hammered, driving home
on the passenger seat, I wasn't driving, just in a Honda Civic, I remember everything about.
We, because that was, we should have won, we would have won the World Series that year.
We would have beat the Diamondbacks because the Diamondbacks beat the, was it the Marlins,
in the ALCS.
That's a great question.
So that year should have been Cubs Red Sox.
Yeah.
Which at the time, we were still both cursed, which would have shattered ratings.
Right.
And we both lost.
Right.
We lost, they did.
They lost two, because I believe that was the foul ball year with, what's his name?
Jeffrey Mayer or whatever.
No, that was the, Jeffrey Mayer was the Yankees Orioles.
Oh, yeah.
That was a Bartman, Bartman.
So that was the Bartman year.
So it should have been Cubs.
And it should have been the Red Sox, and would have shattered.
That's neither here nor there.
But, yeah, O3 was a bad time in my life.
Yeah, that's crazy, man.
And obviously you were like 13 years of age, and I was like twice that age.
But, yeah, the Red Sox, obviously, in New England, there's just a special relationship with that team and that city and that ballpark, however, refurbished.
And, yeah, I mean, I wanted my kids to experience that.
And I'm very thankful that they did.
But mixed martial arts, I know we're not talking about fighting, but it has effectively ruined some other sports for me.
regular season NBA, even though I eat box scores, doesn't captivate my interest unless it's the fourth quarter.
The Celtics are on national television all the time.
Now, I'm doing a lot of child care, putting a lot of kids to sleep at night,
and that obviously gets in the way of my viewership to whatever degree.
But, yeah, I just, at least in terms of Major League Baseball and sitting down to watch an inning or an extended game,
yeah, it's not even that I'm in my phone.
It's just that I'm not that compelled when.
the game seem, you know, just inconsequential in the month of May.
Is that why you like, is that why football's came?
Because I feel like every Sunday, it's like, it just matters, right?
Yeah, that has a lot to do with it.
And I'm not necessarily looking for baseball to, like, shave down the schedule,
but there is nothing like the baseball postseason.
I'm just totally captivated, bemoaning the fact that we're getting, like,
four games on one day, wanting them to spread it out a little bit,
and then it ends sort of right after it begins.
No, I salivate over the baseball postseason, but I watch less than five hours
of regular season major league baseball.
Oh my God. That's crazy to me.
Best memories watching the Celtics.
Because you, unlike the Red Sox where you grew up, they were kind of, they were still cursed.
I'm sure you remember when they were great, they fell apart, and then they came back.
So my mom used to babysit for Agent Bob Wolf's kids back in the 60s in Massachusetts
in Brookline.
And one night he surprised her by bringing John Havlicek home because Honda was like her favorite
player. So my mom grew up with, like, great tickets to all of those Celtics games. So my mom is
a rabid Boston Celtics fan. For me, though, you know, I had season tickets in the nosebleeds in
2002 and 2003 for the Antoine Walker Paul Pierce year. So employee number eight, every day of the
goddamn week, every three Antoine took, I was behind. I thought they were all good shots.
Every last one of them. Do you do the shimmy? No, I'm not going to do it today for MMAfighting.com.
But, no, Twan is the man, and he and Paul Pierce are actually doing a podcast together with
which certainly warms my heart a little bit.
But for me, I was a Boston Celtics season ticket holder in 2002 and 2003,
and then I actually covered the team for one season, the 0506 season,
which was sort of pretty cool for me.
I was a big Kendrick Perkins guy back in the day.
I used to get in arguments with Sean Grandy,
the great play-by-play voice on the radio side for the Celtics about, you know,
Perk and his value in terms of the top eight.
We would have won in 2010 if he didn't hurt his knee against the Lakers.
because that's when Powell and Medawil Peace took over.
If we had perk there, we would have gone 2-0 against Kobe and the Lakers those few years.
You're absolutely right.
And even though I didn't wear my entering title town sweatshirt today,
because I do think that there are other cities that now have sort of entered that fray,
a little bit, Tampa Bay, chief among them.
But there were a lot of championships, and we're going to sound sort of like homers here,
but there were a lot of championships that the Boston teams did not win,
that they really should have.
When they had the best team, whether you're talking about the 2003 Boston Red Sox, the 2010 Boston Celtics,
obviously the two Super Bowls against the New York Giants that the Patriots, in my humble opinion, had the better team.
You know, very thankful for all of the championship success in the city,
and I hope for other sports fans around the world, for Toronto Maple Leafs fans, I hope your guys break through.
But there were a lot of Boston teams that were good enough to win titles that didn't while they were seemingly winning everything else.
Favorite basketball player growing up
I guess when you were a little kid
Kevin Johnson
Oh yeah
I was a point guard
And I have gotten up out of my UFC play-by-place seat
Very few times to shake hands
Shake him to shake him to Kevin Johnson
I'll tell you the five people
Tom Brady
Sure
President Donald Trump
Okay Mike Tyson
Hasbola
And KJ
That is a rag tag group of misfits right there
And it all happened pretty recently
Like I don't get up
Like I
Half the time we show
celebrities on pay-per-view and I'm dying with the truck like who is this I don't know this movie
star right so but I saw Tom Brady for my mom I had to go over to him Trump literally pointed at me
and was like come here so I shot up to go greet the uh the former president uh Mike Tyson and I
locked eyes which was pretty cool shack actually on that list but KJ was there I don't know if we
were in Sacramento or wherever we were but I just got to tell him I said hey I grew up a
Celtics fan but you were my guy man I mean I could wear number seven every chance I
and I was an absolutely huge Kevin Johnson fan,
and God, I wish they had won that title in 1993.
Yeah, and I'm not going to let you get away.
You were at the Tuck game, correct?
Yeah.
Tell me that story.
So if fans don't know, it was 2002, I believe,
and it was just snow everywhere.
The snowiest game, not the coldest game, but the snowy's game.
Talking about teams that should have won the championship,
that Raiders team was just a better team than these Patriots, yeah.
So late in the game, Tom Brady,
fumbles the football, some sort of strip
sack. Charles Woodson obviously was involved.
So Tom Brady fumbles the football.
Yes, he did. Say it again.
Tom Brady fumble the ball. Yes he did. So I'm in the building.
I leave Gillette Stadium.
And I'm walking to my car and all of a sudden I hear this roar.
And I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Like they
reversed that and called that an incomplete pass.
Like part of me in my head is like, I don't even want this win as a fan,
but it laid the foundation for an eventual Super Bowl championship,
the first of six. But I go rushing back to
at stadium and they didn't let me back in.
So I was in my...
Because you don't leave games early in Boston.
But you agree with me.
I mean, that's a fumble every day of the week.
It absolutely was a fun.
Then the game's over, right?
So you've got to give me a little slack.
I guess I could have waited for the review.
But now if you Google Tuck rule, obviously, that's what we're talking about.
But that's a fumble every day of the week for me.
So I'm in my Infinity G20T.
I can't drive the thing out of the parking lot because of the snow.
And I had to listen to the game on the radio.
For people that don't know, that wasn't just snow.
That was a blizzard.
Because I have a lot of friends that, like, they were at that game.
They were at the top.
Like, we couldn't, they couldn't see, they were just watching black dots.
Yeah.
They were following the footprints.
They're like, that might be a touchdown for us.
We don't know.
Yeah, I didn't have a great seat either.
The only thing I can guarantee you is that that was a fumble every day of the week.
So I had to go home.
I was not seen enough.
And then that's the year they beat the Rams.
Correct.
That was the first one.
So Raiders Rams, that one.
Unbelievable.
One of the greatest nights in my life,
I ended up at a bar called Brady's in New York City.
I didn't have a lot of people to watch the game with them.
Boston. So I made the decision on Super Bowl Sunday to drive to New York City to watch with my
buddies and it worked out. What's the first professional sports game you remember going to in the city
of Boston? It had to be a Celtics game very early on when I was four or five and everything looked
black and white on TV and then all of a sudden the parquet actually was like yellow and everything
just sort of popped. But I grew up in a basketball family and my mother literally was
tying my right hand behind my back when I was three, four years old,
making me dribble with my left hand to develop that opposite hand.
Golly.
Yeah, so she was all about it.
No, I mean, when I did go over to Tom Brady at that,
I believe it was Connor McGregor versus Donald Cowboy Soroni.
I just said, I just want to let you know how much joy.
I think he was at the Diaz fight.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I just said, I just want you to know how much joy you brought to my mother
and my entire family, you know, and to be able to express that to him,
obviously was pretty cool.
Is it a trip when, like, for me, when, like, U.S.C. 190 was at the forum.
And when I was there, we were, like, I was, like, walking the floor to get to the press section.
I kind of stop him.
I'm like, I can't remember the player's name, but they showed him the highlights for, like, the Lakers Celtics rivalry when the guy got, like, closed-lined.
Like, I can't remember who it was.
But it happened, like, right where I was standing.
Right.
And I was like, this is, this is nuts.
Like, growing up in Boston, I've seen this highlight a thousand times.
But, like, it's literally where it happened.
Has it been a trip, like, when D.C. fought Vulcan in Boston.
Media Day was in Fenway.
Right.
And I was losing my mind.
I'm like, this is the greatest day of my entire life.
I mean, it all came together for you.
And nothing made me happier than being inside of TD Garden
and seeing Dominic Cruz and T.J. Dillishaw put on a fight like that
and just watching the crowd, ooh and ah for defense, right?
It showed you that Boston was a fight town, right?
Because that was a UFC fight night.
Granted, it was a world title, but that was not a pay-per-view.
We could sell out TD Garden, no matter who we headlined, right?
It's a fight town, tried and true, and Dom was, like, evading T.J. strikes,
and the crowd was, like, ooing and eyeing with every Dominic Cruz movement.
So, yeah, that was, that had to be pretty special for you.
I just want to run the bases at Fenway before I die.
I don't need to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Just let me run the bases.
I've been on the field of Gillette, and I've been on the court in the garden.
I've been the ice in the garden.
Can you ice skate?
No.
Oh, I'm okay.
I can't go backwards, but I can, like, just go in circles, because I play.
played hockey one year.
Oh, did you?
I have fallen on my head
and hit my head on the back of the ice
within the last 12 months in Bocke Roton, Florida.
Ice skating in Florida is just a bizarre concept.
So I grew up, my dad doesn't believe
hockey should exist below the Mason-Dixon line.
That's his whole thing.
So he's like, when the Lightning
played whoever they played in the finals,
he's like, I'm not watching that.
So basically, if you're above, if you're in Canada,
so if you're above America,
you're dead to him, and if you're below
the Mason takes the line, you shouldn't exist.
Yeah, that's funny.
That's the whole thing.
So I grew up, like, I hope Canada never wins
Orel Cup, or Stanley Cup for the rest of their lives.
Yeah.
Just, just as ingrained in me.
You know, it's interesting.
I do wonder when you're my age, if that will change a little bit.
Because let me tell you, like, you know, Andy Reid, right,
head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Fat Genius, right?
So there was a time where I was going to college at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
All my collegiate buddies were Eagles fans and like, but, dude, like, when Andy Reed,
finally won a Super Bowl.
That felt good.
Like he had buried a child.
He'd been through a lot of different things.
Like I was happy for the guy.
I was happy for the Chiefs.
And I'm just telling you, like 22-year-old Boston sports fan.
Like, fuck, no, not happy for, like, Maple Leafs?
No.
But now all of a sudden, you know,
obviously, you know, Toronto's a big market for the UFC.
We have a lot of our executives and others who are big Maple Leafs fans.
And I don't know.
I just, for these particularly starved fan bases,
not the New York Knicks necessarily,
but I would like to see some of the breakthrough.
Or, you know, I hope the Canadians never win.
Like the Montreal.
Well, that's a different conversation.
That's a different combo.
Like the Canadians can never win again, the Yankees can ever win again, the Knicks can
ever win again.
I don't really, I'm not a Patriots fan.
I still don't like the Jets.
Yeah.
I think that's just because they're a New York team.
Right, right.
So you just hate them in general.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, you just said them all for me.
I mean, I will never root for anything good to happen for the Habs.
As you well know, I bet against all of the Boston teams and all.
I was going to bring that up after.
So you told me, I think.
I think we were in Houston for D.C.
No, Jones Reyes.
And we were talking about, like, I asked you, like, what's the craziest bet you made, like, recently?
And you were, like, when they were down 28 to 3 in the Super Bowl, you placed a bet.
So tell us this story with the Patriots.
So my twin brother and I, for years, honestly, dating to the late 1990s, we bet against the Boston teams.
In part, I guess, to soften the blow if they lose.
But really as an emotional hedge and sort of as a way for us to get involved.
Like we actually believe, as superstitious as we are, that we have affected change by the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
You definitely did.
You definitely did.
So Patriots are down 28 to 3 to the Atlanta Falcons in a Super Bowl.
I already have a lot of money on Atlanta that I had played before the game during the game, right?
And so I'm like, let me look at a live bet, right?
Atlanta is up 28 to 3.
Will they even offer a money line on the Atlanta Falcons?
And sure enough they did, I placed a $500 bet on the Atlanta Falcons.
when they were up 28 to 3, $500 to win $27.
I mean, it's idiocy.
Just total idiocy.
Like, you have a spouse.
What are you doing?
And that bet ended up losing.
Is that the best bet you ever lost?
Best bet I ever lost.
When the Patriots beat the Seahawks, I jumped into my brother-in-law's arms and, like, ripped my groin from the bone.
So I've got to be careful with celebrations.
Really?
That was a dark...
The package you should have made that, so we'll.
I'm a big Packers fan.
That's right.
The onside kick we blew,
Mike McCarthy decided that he wanted to run the ball
when he still had Prime Aaron Rogers.
Now, to be fair, Des Bryant caught that ball.
Yes, he did.
In the division series,
I will admit that Des Bryant, that was a catch-putt.
It wasn't particularly,
because I had tickets to that Super Bowl.
That was in Arizona.
Have you been to a Super Bowl?
Never.
So I would recommend,
if you are an NFL fan
and your team gets to a Super Bowl,
find a way to go.
It really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
For me, there are 13 Super Bowels a year
right, the 12 UFC pay-per-views and then the actual Super Bowl.
That's fair.
But there's just nothing like the tension.
Dude, like I felt, I've never done cocaine.
I felt like I was hooped up on something.
Like the tension of your, and the Patriot Super Bowl that I went to,
they won 13 to 3 against the Rams.
So you can imagine the tension, right?
I mean, it's a 3-0 game.
It was just very tight.
You know what I refer to the Super Bowl last?
The Inganu, Derek Lewis, of Super Bowls.
And you know what's crazy is because when you're in the building
and your team is in a Super Bowl, and it's so tense.
The last thing on my mind was that the game was boring to everybody else back home.
I was just, I was freaking out.
Did you cry?
Yeah, probably cry.
How, can you tell me the times that you've cried at sporting events?
Like, as an adult man, because I've cried at sporting events as an adult man myself.
I think, well, certainly when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson,
and that basically Super Bowl went from, you know, jaws of defeat.
to victory. Yeah, it was pretty emotional. And certainly when they won that first Super Bowl
in February of 2002, when I was later at Brady's Bar, New York City, I cried.
Yeah, I mean, the Red Sox, when they won the World Series in 2004, I mean, for sure,
we were camped out at Sporting News Radio 1510, The Zone, in Burlington, Massachusetts, ready to go
on the air. Burlington. And we went on the air right after they won the World Series. And
that was one of the greatest broadcasting experiences of my life,
just going on the air for 15 minutes celebrating with Red Sox Nation,
because after what happened in 2003,
I started to wonder, maybe there is a cursement.
Talking about another team that would have,
like that Cardinals team was significantly better,
but no one was beating the Red Sox.
Right.
Like that team had Tony Womack was their lead off hitter,
and then they had Larry Walker,
who they had traded for the trade deadline,
and then they had MV3.
They had Pooleholds, Edmins, and Roland,
and then they had Reggie Sanders batting,
sixth. That was an unstoppable team.
I think you'd agree, though, most years when the Red Sox have gotten to the World Series,
they weren't losing. They've looked like gangbusters, right?
Even when they lost the 18-inning game to the Dodgers.
Which, okay, so that one game is the reason that I have this whole conspiracy theory.
You know, the Charlie, from, it's always Sunny where he's on the board, and he has like this big,
that's me with that game. I have tied everything going wrong with the Red Sox to that game.
So I might get the names wrongs of players, but I think it was the 13th or 14th inning.
Max Muncie grounds the ball out to Ian Kinsler.
Ian Kinsler muffs it or like throws it away and he like he's safe or something.
So Muncie's on first.
Or I can't, Muncie's on first base with him.
No, Muncie is on first and then Yassiopi grounds it to Ian Kinsler.
And he like boots it and throws it away.
But so Muncie's run in the second and then he's on second and then he gets,
He's on second because he should have just been able to throw.
Right, right.
Now, Eduardo Nunez later catches the ball out of bounds and falls into the crowd, but the play is still live.
So he's running, and so it's like he tags up and his whole this thing.
So then they score and they tie the game and whatever because of all this nonsense.
And then Evaldi comes in and is the greatest pitcher ever.
And I can't tell you how many kids are named after him now at this point.
But they gave him that whole contract because of that game.
That game.
And then we lose Mookie back.
It's that game is the reason we lost Mookie Betts.
I think foundationally...
We would have won, and then Chris Sayle wouldn't have had to close the game out,
and then we wouldn't have given him that huge contract.
I was driving here today.
You may be on to something.
I kind of felt like the writing was on the wall a little bit with Mookiee Betts.
I was driving up today, and they said that Zander Bogartz is going to sign a free agent contract
with somebody by the end of today.
But I don't know.
Just with some of these guys, like Raphael Devers, you feel like the Red Sox are going to,
you know, back up the...
the Brinks truck, but I just didn't feel like they were going to ever do it with bets, and he
was just going to go to the highest bidder, and with Bogarts, I felt like he's had one foot
out the door.
I really feel like Carlos Correa is going to be the Red Sox Shorstop next year.
Huh.
Why?
His kinship with Alex Cora, I mean, we all knew that that was a one-year deal that he
was signing with the Minnesota Twins for all intents and purposes, and here's what I'll say.
Most baseball minds believe that Zander Bogartz is a better player than Carlos
Corra.
So I would agree.
Right.
But I'm more of an intangible, emotional sports fan,
and I really believe that Carlos Correa,
as a leader of men, as a vocal leader,
is a championship player and a championship piece.
And if I was going to invest hundreds of millions of dollars
in one of those two players, I would invest in Colorado.
I agree with the intangels thing.
The only reason I would give Zander the money
is he's one of the few players that's had like a thousand hits all of the Red Sox.
Like he's never played with another.
team after. If you're
like Marcelo Myers, who's going
to be our, he's 18 right now
and high, he's going to be our guy.
You lose Mookie
who came up in the Boston.
If you lose Xander and you lose
Devers, you lose the three core
players that you brought up. What does that tell
Myers? Are they going to invest in me
in the future? No, that's fair. My expectation
would be that Devers would stick around, but obviously
if I have to pay one of those two
as Devers. Between Zander and Devers.
Yes, and I think that's what they'll do.
And we'll see what happens with Carlos Correa.
He had a pretty good year, all things considered.
We got a lot of UFC fans with these Major League Baseball players.
It's crazy.
And Aronado's a big fight fan, too.
And Trevor's Story.
I don't know if you know about Trevor's story.
I'm a big fan of Trevor Story.
And Kiki Hernandez, a lot of the Red Sox.
There was a point in time with Kiki Hernandez was the highest selling jersey in baseball.
Because if there is a Mexican or Hispanic player on the Red Sox.
To the roof.
That's why Pedro was Christ.
to me.
Like he is,
there are a few people that if I,
because when you're in the media,
like you're,
if I see a celebrity,
I'm not going to go and shake their hands.
Pedro's a guy.
Pedro is,
it might be the guy that I would do that for.
It's amazing we got this far into our conversation
without invoking the name Pedro Martinez.
I was going to wait for the second segment
because we have a whole thing,
but like,
well,
this is a perfect segue way.
This will be the end of segment one.
You'll get a couple commercials
and then we'll be back.
We'll talk more Boston sports.
I know everyone in the world
wants to talk about Boston.
I just assume
you haven't gotten tired of it,
but we'll be back
after this quick commercial break.
With Amex Platinum,
$400 in annual credits
for travel and dining
means you not only satisfy
your travel bug,
but your taste buds too.
That's the powerful backing
of Amex.
Conditions apply.
Unwrap holiday magic
at Holt Renfrew
with gifts that say I know you.
From festive and cozy fashion
to Lux Beauty and Fragrant Sets,
our special selection
has something for every style and price point.
Visit our Holtz holiday shop and store or online at Holtrenfrew.com.
Welcome back to the sex segment of Anything But Fighting Podcasts.
This is my favorite segment.
You'll remember the last time I did this, Joseph Benavita's talked quite a bit about movies.
Like to the point where I'm like, Joe, this is one segment that has like stretched,
but no complaints.
There's actually a lot of people really love this.
So I find a list of whatever, and I would like to get your list as well.
But when we did this with Joe, I don't know if you've ever talked to the movies about Joe,
he's very opinionated about movies.
So I gave him the last 10 years of Best Picture Winners, and I go, what should have won?
He kind of went off.
Went off.
So I'm going to give you a list, according to USA Today's list, this is USA Today's list.
This is not my list of the 10 greatest athletes in the history of Boston.
Wow.
And you are going to give me your list.
Oh, it's amazing.
Of the 10 greatest in the history of Boston.
You'll notice a few names are off.
Wow.
So according to USA Today, Bill Russell, number one, Tom Brady, Ted Williams, Bob Yore,
Carlis Stramski, Larry Bird, Bob Coozy coming out of nowhere, which is Ray Bork, John Havlichick, Paige-Martinas.
According to USA Today, there are a few names that I think are missing.
I think David Ortiz needs to be on this list.
Yeah, absolutely.
The three-world series.
Now, if you're just doing the four sports, this is fine.
but I might want to add Marvin Hagglett to this list if we're talking just
athletes from Boston right so if I don't know what your rules are going to be you can
run it however you want this is going to be your list yeah of the 10 greatest
athletes that either played for Boston or from Boston my colleague Mike
Heck sent his list in that will also share okay he's from Boston too he did the 10
that were his lifetime that was his rule so like Ted Williams Bill Russell were not on
his list because he didn't grow up watching them yeah so for this
You can tell me a name, and I'll write it down, of what you think.
If you have a story with these guys, we can talk about it too.
But for you, you want to start at the top?
Yeah, we can start at the top.
I will say that this is a particularly difficult exercise when it comes to the city of Boston.
Because for Pedro Martinez to be number 10 on any list is just insane.
And how do you quantify all of the Boston Celtics from the 1960s and 70s?
I know. It's tough.
Because there's a lot of people that have like eight or nine championships
that maybe not have been best players.
So number one for me actually is not going to be Bill Russell, right,
just based upon the era in which he competed.
Bill Russell's going to be number two.
But number one for me has to be Tom Brady.
And to have this conversation without injecting the name Bill Belichick kind of seems fruitless, right?
I mean, it should be Tom Brady slash Bill Belichick,
because ultimately what those two men were able to accomplish in the modern era,
is never going to be accomplished again.
You know, for years, it was the 49ers and the Steelers with their five and six Super Bowls.
No one was ever going to catch that, you know?
So we got Tom Brady, Bill Belichick.
I'm going to write that number one.
Bill Russell, you said it was number two.
Bill Russell, number two.
And I would agree with USA today.
I mean, Teddy ball games.
Ted Williams absolutely needs to be there.
Yeah.
batted 400 twice and didn't win the MVP out of the time.
For me, you know, I see Bobby Orr there at number four.
I mean, I'm going to drop him down the list a little bit.
I mean, when I first saw this list, I thought of two names, Patrice Bergeron and David.
Ortiz and certainly for a Bruins fan from my era like how do you not give Patrice
Bergeron a slot on no I can't put him that high you know wow but how does Patrice
Bergeron not make this list you know I don't know so it's tough because Ray Bork and
Bobby Orr is two of the greatest players ever there's no doubt and Patrice Bergeron is not
but he's a hall of the third best yeah and he only has one one ring you know
yeah so let's go in our tenths slot we're gonna go Ray Bork slash Patrice Burr
can we do that Mike Hector? You're okay with that?
Sure.
And then you can just throw Bobby Orr somewhere in the middle.
I mean, it's hockey. If your dad's watching, just put Bobby Orr at number eight.
I love you, Bobby Orr, but let's be real.
Number four, Bobby Orr, number eight.
Bobby Orr goes to number eight.
And that gives us plenty of real estate for somebody like David Ortiz.
This is a junk.
To me, the top four are locked in stone.
It's Brady, Russell Williams, or in some order.
Fair.
You're throwing me for a loop right now.
Here's the thing.
I mentioned off the top of our saving one.
hockey was in the basement, right?
So I don't have any historical perspective for Bobby Orr's career.
Sure.
Like the Boston Bruins are going to go play the Florida Panthers in January.
I'm going to take my children, okay?
Sure.
I can't name like five Boston Bruins right now.
So, I mean, you can put Bobby Orr wherever you want.
I'll put him number eight for you.
Yeah, put him number eight.
So I have to put David Ortiz in the top four.
So David Ortiz number four?
I have to.
That's fair.
And you can put Pedro Martinez right behind him at number five.
But David Ortiz has to be number four.
And you're not going to argue against that.
what he was able to do i know people like adam hill suggest that the word
clutch does not exist
in the vernacular for professional sports he grew up in los vegas
what what david ortees did and again i'm
preaching to the choir what david ortees did in so many big spots and his
ability to slow down the game of baseball raffaille devers reminds me of him a little
bit at least as far as his eye
ortees became barry bonds in terms of his eye in the batters box of david
Ortiz, all the championship moments has to be top four for me. Pedro Martinez number five.
Gosh, that means Larry Bird has to be number six. What else can be said about Larry Joe Bird?
Three world championships. Gosh, I mean, I got to flip Pedro and Larry. Larry can't be out of the top five.
So you can just, sorry, bro. Sorry, bro. This is an evolving exercise. I'm not going to go as long as Joey B, but this is brutal.
This is tough. So Larry Bird five. Well, and especially because I, as you can tell, want to lean more.
towards the modern era. So we'll go Pedro Martinez number six.
Pedro Martinez, greatest picture in my lifetime. So essentially we have Bob Cousy and John
Havlachic. You can throw names that aren't on this list. Right, are the two names that, uh, right,
but I'm getting greedy. I'm already slashing with Brady and Belichick. I've already slashed with
Ray Borg and Patrice Bergeron. So Bob Cousie was better than John Havlicek in terms of his
overall game. That was the guy who was like John Stockton before John Stockton. Sure.
So, yeah, I mean, you can go Hondo 9 as I sort of marinate on this a little bit.
But yeah, Honda-John Havlicek has to be number 9.
There were so many great Boston Celtics, though, that I don't know.
But, yeah, I think we nailed the Red Sox by and large.
I don't think that we left anybody out.
You know, Jim Rice is certainly going to be top 20s for me.
There's no college of Skrimski on your list.
Well, what about Doug Flutie, though?
Right?
I mean.
I guess, yeah.
I mean, I will know.
I get it, right?
But, like, Doug Flutty could do it all, man.
I mean, you should see Doug Flutty play pickup basketball.
And that dude's, like, born and raised, Natick, Massachusetts.
I lived in Natick for a time.
So the names I thought of immediately, yeah, were David Ortiz, Doug Flutty and Patrice Bergeron.
Doug Flutie.
But no, Doug Flutie does not make the list.
This is a pretty good list.
This is a good list.
You didn't give me any advance notice.
No, that's the point.
Right, of course.
I wanted to be, like, gut feeling.
Right.
Like gut feeling.
And I also am in the middle of back-to-backs here with 30.
fighters this week and 26 next week, so I probably didn't need to be prepping for this exercise.
But I'm just trying to think sport by sport.
So for me, growing up in Boston, I would put Bill Russell one.
Yeah.
He was also the first black coach in the NBA ever when he became a player coach.
Which I think it's just important to the history of basketball.
Yeah, right.
And again, it's all open to interpretation and obviously the timeliness, right,
but Bill Russell passed away recently.
I mean, Tom, it's Bill Russell and Brady are one.
You can flip either one in any of them in anyone's list, and no one's going to argue.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, Carlis-Stremski is jarring to.
It's going to be jarring to a generation of, there's no yes on your list.
Oh, that's what he did.
I mean, if my mother wasn't watching, I would probably get Hondo out of there for Carlis Screms.
You know, I mean, candidly, it's hard to put Patrice Berger on a list of all-time great Boston athletes and leave out Carlis Stremski, but it kind of is what it is.
You know, I mean, Raymond Bork's career was.
rooted in greatness, but longevity too.
That was a big part of his greatness.
That's 67 Red Sox team is, like you grew up in Boston.
People still talk about that.
The Impossible Dream Red Sox.
I mean, zero rings for Ray Bork.
Zero rings for Williams, zero rings for Yistramski,
one ring for Pedro.
Like, luckily he got that one at the end.
But, you know, when you start to mention Bill Russell as a coach
and I mentioned Bill Belichick and, I mean,
Terry Francona still getting it done,
You know, I mean, he's certainly a legendary Boston personality, but I think we have a pretty good list.
I just, it's interesting for me to see USA Today put out a list without David Ortiz on it.
Yeah.
And I just don't know the rationale.
You know, you're banging on me for leaving Yaz out.
I know.
I would have...
Dude, I got enough hockey guy.
We have fucking three hockey guys on you?
I like how you say hockey like a New England or two.
I love that.
Hockey.
Going to go walk Wicked Friday.
I go watch a fucking hockey.
Tell you.
Yeah, even the USA Today's list, who do you drop to put Pedro?
Yaz's at 5 and then cut him out and everyone moves up.
I mean, should I tell you, Dad, you spell Bob Coosy wrong?
There's no Ian Coosy.
There's no E.N. Coozie.
But, no, I mean, I even think about, like, my mom and talking about Sam Jones
and the late Jojo White.
Say it goes.
His name is kind of etched.
So my mom is from El Paso.
And Jojo White's the one that stood on the line when that Texas Western, when he was on Kansas,
when hit that three.
And then they were like, foot on the line.
And then they waved it off.
and the Texas Western moving on.
So Jojo White's like both sides.
Like my dad loves Jojo White.
My mom was Joe Joe White because he was on the line.
He was a Celtics ambassador and I got to meet him a couple times when I was covering the team.
My dad would put John Pesky on this.
Johnny Pesky.
He was on the Boston Red Sox payroll for 60 years.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
Well, but then, I mean, Dante Scarnackia, I mean, where do we begin?
Right.
Like, Scarnacia, to me, is every bit to Boston sports lore or what?
what johnnie pesky is so you
if you had to do a
mount lishmore is that we're doing all only one but you can only have one
representative of each sport it would essentially be brady russell williams
and bobby or for you
just looking at your list
but it's really difficult right because i'm you know ted williams versus
david ortees right i mean like i you know i didn't see a single ted williams
at that but i understand historically what he meant
but no i mean the greatest red socks player of my lifetime was
was not Pedro Martinez. It was David Ortiz.
Ted Williams is in three Hall of Fame.
What about Paul Pierce, by the way?
So that's what I was going to bring up.
Is he a top five Celtic in your mind?
That was a bit of contention on NBA on TNT.
They put this list together of when the Lakers and the, like the five Lakers versus the five Celtics.
And everyone left off Pierce on the greatest Celtics list.
And that was a big argument of contention.
And again, if this list was 20,
I would even make a case for Kevin Garnett,
who bleeds Boston in the way place.
Harper bleeds Philadelphia.
Like, yeah, I mean, Rob Grunkowski, too.
But Teddy Bruske should be in this conversation.
Rodney Harrison, like, it is criminal to me.
And I know you're not a Patriots guy,
but it is absolutely criminal to me that for all of those great Patriots teams,
none of these guys are going to be recognized in the Hall of Fame.
Yeah, Richard Seymour got in, right?
Thai law got in, but none of these other guys are going to fucking get in.
No.
And here's, here's Mike's list, Mike Hex list,
that you'll appreciate it.
So these are, he's going with Lifetime and some of just his favorites.
Yeah.
Bird, Brady, Ortiz, Ray Bork, Cam Neely, Jason Veritech, he said, cemented forever for punching A-Rod in the face.
Teddy Bruce.
Teddy Bruske, Paige Martinez, Paul Pierce.
Those are his 10.
So I believe Paul Pierce is the all-time leading score in Celtics history.
And certainly the bulk of his prime was played in Boston.
He was able to capstone it with a world championship.
He deserves consideration.
And he did it in an era.
that made it really challenging to do just that.
Like, if he wins that ring in 2010,
you tell me we don't have a place for Paul Pierce on this list, you know?
That's true.
But, you know, Larry Bird doesn't get on your Boston Mount Rushmore
because Bill Russell always takes the spot.
It's like the Yankees.
Who's going to, who's the best Yankee ever?
Like the top four kind of sandstone with Bird and Bird, I'm Bird, Bird,
Babe Ruth, Garrick, Mantle, and DiMaggio.
Like, those are the four.
Yeah.
And then five, it's Jeter, A-Rod.
Yeah.
I mean, it's Jeter Rivera, Yogi Berra.
Like, who's five?
Yeah.
I didn't sign up to talk about the New York Yankees today.
And that's as long we're going to talk about the New York Yankees.
But it is.
It's a really interesting conversation, and obviously it speaks to the greatness and all
the championship banners and everything else.
But, yeah, for me, it's hard to put hockey into a context with the other three.
I mean, I could easily just go hockeyless.
But Larry Bird, right?
Like Bill Russell changed the game.
There's no doubt about it.
But there hasn't been anybody like Larry Bird, right?
I mean, people will compare Luca Dantches to him.
a little bit, but there hasn't really
been anybody quite like Larry Byrd.
Do you watch MLB Network much with Pedro?
Pedro is unbelievable.
He's great.
Do you know Casey Meises?
Yes.
So he just had Tommy John surgery.
And last year Pedro was breaking down
Casey Meis' delivery, and he's like he's going to have
Tommy John next year a year before it happened.
Amazing.
Because of his motion, and he's like, he pauses it and he's like,
look at all that.
That arm's going to blow out next year.
Nails.
Spot on.
Yeah, Pedro does a great job, especially given that it's his second language.
That's the most impressive thing for me.
Isn't it crazy that he was only the second Dominican player to make the Hall of Fame?
Is that really the case?
Wow.
I mean, there will be more, like David Ortiz just got in, but like when Pedro went and he was like second or third ever.
But, you know, I've talked to like Marlon Chito Vera about doing English commentary, right?
And it's a tricky thing, right, to do commentary in a second language, but I know Chito eventually would thrive and he would really love it.
But yeah, we were talking earlier about crying.
I definitely was crying when I went to the 1999 All-Star game.
Pedro Martinez pitched, obviously the visuals of Ted Williams on the golf cart.
No more coming over.
I mean, that was a time in my life.
I was 21 years old.
You were fucking 10.
I was 21 years old.
And I think it was one of the first times I can remember, like, being, channeling that type of emotion.
For right now, it's like I can't even watch a movie without my.
Right.
It's like any father-daughter thing and just fucking waterworks you.
That's a core memory for me.
Because growing up as a kid, I very vividly remember the home run chase in 98.
Like I remember waking up before my dad at like 5 a.m. to go get the paper to see like, did Mark McGuire hit another home run?
That is such a core.
That might be the core memory of my life, was the home run chase.
Yeah.
So my brother was a big Sammy Sosa fan and I was a big Mark McGuire fan just because we were trying to.
to be different. So when Mark McGuire went over to like shake Ted Williams' hand, I was like,
oh, this is just my life. My life can end right now. It was amazing. And I woke up on that July
morning trying to get a ticket to Fenway for that All-Star game. And now when we look back on a 23
years later, it still is one of the more special, you know, midsummer classics.
I don't know about you, but now that the teams play each other more often, like the Red Stucks
will play the N-O-West like every year. And now they have the D.H. I don't really, the D.H thing
is just a whole other argument.
It's just not,
the All-Star Games is not the same.
Oh.
Because when we saw,
because the Red Sox would pay the same 15 teams every year.
If they played,
if Pedro wanted to face Mark McGuire,
you'd have to make the World Series.
Right.
So when Pedro faced Barry Larkin,
Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire,
I'm just like,
this is the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
You're right.
I do think it has changed.
And even for me as a baseball fan,
when I'm looking at an Astros,
Philly's World Series this year,
It felt like a National League Championship Series.
Those are two National League teams.
It is.
You know?
Where do you fall on the DH argument?
I think it's really interesting that they're doing away with the shift, honestly.
I hate it.
The DH is, I am very anti-that.
Telling a ball club that you cannot align your defenders.
It's the game.
It's the game.
That's like saying, hey, you can't throw a curveball.
It's stupid.
It is so stupid.
The DH rule, I am old-fashioned.
Yeah.
So I would have liked it to have been the way it is, but I have far less issue with that than the fact that they're now going to...
They're just trying to make it more exciting and stuff.
I'm like, that doesn't make any sense.
Like, just wind the balls tighter so you can import more home runs.
And just the shift is of the shift.
Like, if you are a major league baseball player and you can't hit opposite field, that's your problem.
Yeah, and I agree with you.
But for yourself, and not to go too long on this, but as a major league baseball fan, talking to someone who is in some part of former
baseball fan, at least in terms of how much of it I ingest, like, what would you do to try to
bridge the gap to the modern sports fan? And it's not even so much about attention deficit,
as much as it is about the pace of the game and things not happening. Like, my wife doesn't like
the NFL. She's forced to watch Patriots Vikings on Thanksgiving night, and she's like,
this is the greatest theater I've seen in months. It's like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. The pitch clock I like,
because like getting
because players taking too much
like warm up
I like the pitch clock
I don't like the shit
I don't like the band
like the getting rid of the shift
because that's just part of the game
I do think they need to wind the balls tighter
just because remember one year
because I this was obviously a long time ago
like Wade Boggs at like 26 home runs one year
they found out that they
the balls were coming from a different place
and they were just being wound tighter
because I'm like when does Wade Boggs
and hit 26 home runs
wind the ball's tighter
the DH thing I get.
I don't really have an opinion one way or another.
I liked how they were different.
Like one being in one.
I liked the difference.
I just think they need to know.
Mike Trout, to me, could have been the greatest baseball before injuries.
He could be the most talented baseball player ever.
But you don't see him anywhere.
You don't see him on the Tonight Show.
You don't see him on the Good Morning America's.
Everyone knows who LeBron is.
Everyone knows who Tom Brady is.
We have that.
Tom Brady is the greatest football player who has ever lived.
LeBron might be the greatest.
Like that's LeBron versus Jordan.
Mike Trout might be the most, like,
Shohai, O-Tani is...
I love that guy.
A generation, we're never going to see another O-Ton.
Well, we will because of him.
He will influence kids to do this.
Like, there's a couple other players.
I can't remember his name on the race.
He's in the race farce.
That does both.
You just don't see him anywhere outside of, like,
I think getting rid of baseball tonight on the SPN,
that sucks,
now it's less attainable.
Yeah, I mean, I think in the next 25 years, you won't have anybody who's as effective as
Otani is doing it both ways, and maybe you'll have one or two that actually can do it regularly
season in and season out.
But a lot of talking heads talk about baseball players like Bryce Harper, you want his mug
with the beard on camera as much as possible, right?
Like LeBron's face is on TV every other minute.
Yes, a thousand percent that.
But Mike Trout, right?
You see him when he's bad.
but you don't see him a lot.
No.
And I don't know.
I just think the game has a lot of work to do.
And, you know, I'll always be a fan.
And it's in my blood and in my roots.
But, yeah, I just don't know that I'm...
I mean, maybe there will be a stage of my life when I'm less busy where I can actually sit down and get invested.
And I do think, like, you're still hooked, right?
Like, I'm hooked in so far as I'm following the team every day, transactions, box scores.
But, dude, like, I ain't watching.
I think there needs to be some other, like when bonds went for 73, the home.
run chase. There just needs to be something that happens.
Otani could have done it.
He's also stuck in Anaheim.
He's not making the play. My Trout's only made
the playoffs once in his life. Yeah. He's never
the Red Sox swept him. Right. So he's
never won a playoff game. It's crazy. Like imagine
LeBron James playing 10 years and never
making the playoffs. It's just
and imagine
being, imagine having
Janice and Luca Donchick on the same team
and not making the playoffs. That's
what the angels are with Trout and Otani.
you're right and baseball's funky
I don't have to tell you it's just weird
like I feel like April matters
so much it sets the whole tone
for the rest of the season sure does
but you know I once read that like
87% of the time in a full count situation
it's a foul ball now I don't believe it's that high right
but I would like to see
you know you get you know you get to
in a full count you get three foul balls
four foul ball go fucking bat rack
put your bat away you know but that
I like that is obviously that
outside the box thinking.
But for me, it's just, I don't need 18 pitch at bats.
I'm good.
I think whenever they do electronic umpires is going to be a big game.
If you're going to be a game for you.
Gosh.
I like the review.
Do you like how they can challenge plays in baseball?
Yes.
I really like that.
I was really against it when it started, but now I love it.
I love it.
It's just more drama.
Yeah.
More theory.
Anyway, here's John Annex list.
We'll go over it again.
We got Tom Brady slash Bill Belichick, number one.
Bill Russell, Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Larry Bird, Pedro, Pedro Martinez, Bob Cousy, Bob Yorrett, 8.
Yep.
Shook.
I am shook.
John Havlich, Ray Bork, and Patrice Bergeron, at 10.
Not a bad list.
Honorable mention to Carl Yostrowski, right?
What are you going to do?
What are you going to do?
I mean, why don't we do this for a sports city that's not quite as successful?
Next time.
Next time we do this, we'll do the 10 greatest Tampa Bay athletes.
There you go.
Can you do 10 Tampa Bay athletes?
Evan Longoria.
Number one.
Huge UFC fan, by the way.
It will eventually be Wander Franco.
That kid's a stud.
That kid's a stud.
Anyway, this is the last,
this is the end of the second segment,
and everyone's favorite segment for the final one.
And then we're out.
It's hockey season,
and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats.
Well, almost, almost anything.
So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats.
But iced tea, ice cream,
or just plain old ice?
Yes, we deliver those.
Goaltenders,
No, but chicken tenders, yes, because those are groceries, and we deliver those too, along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now.
For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.
Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts, so you don't have to.
They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags.
Designer.
Handpicked the finest sweaters from the rest.
Ooh, cashmere.
Landed makeup palettes from the brands you love.
Rushes too.
And hustled all those wishless topping toys.
So plush.
Our buyers have got you covered.
Marshalls.
We get the deals.
You gift the good stuff.
All right, welcome back everyone to the final segment here of anything but fighting pockets.
Thank you so much for doing this.
We could probably talk all day about Boston sports in general.
We didn't talk about, I have also another huge, crazy conspiracy theory of the 2006 Boston thing.
We'll talk about that at a whole moment.
other time. That's just the city of Boston in 2006. It's a whole thing. It's a whole thing.
But for this final segment, this is going to be completely unrelated to Boston.
This is the speed round where I have the bucket of questions of the most random questions I can
think of. Okay. I'll be driving and I'll think of a question. Be like, that's something I want
to ask a fighter. But you can't ask these things at Media Day. Right. You can't be like, tell me
about this because I'm sure they would like that. But you can't. So we're going to put five minutes
on the clock all right can i ask you one question before we start hit me do you have any sports
related tattoos do i have any sports related tattoos um no okay all right no i'm getting one
in december okay i'm getting a baseball one but i don't have any logos i don't have any players
and i don't no i don't i think getting a t's i think getting a boston logo is like very on the
nose and i just i don't know it's not something i've ever thought yeah my only tattoo is
sports related. That's why I ask. And my second
one soon to come will be sports related.
Yeah, where's that one going to go? Which one is that one?
It's the F.E.
The iron symbol for Frankie. I don't know
where it's going to go. Maybe on the opposite forearm.
Maybe right next to the 201. We'll sleeve
this thing. We'll throw a little game bread on there, a little
Doreno. If you had to get
a player's name tattooed on you
from Boston, what would you get?
No more on my neck, with an R on the end,
not an H, but no more on my neck.
I would do it right now if I wasn't working in the
television. Honestly, I think Nomar might be one.
I mean, how about the fact that I respected the Boston sports history enough to not put
Omar Garcia-Parr on that list?
At one point in time, he would have been the best.
He was the best short stuff of those three, A-Rod Jeter.
Jeter was the worst, but then he ended up being the most, like, the most famous, the highest
accolades, the longest tenured.
Yep.
Yep.
We don't have to talk about it, though.
Good job with the Marlins, Jeter.
Good job, Jeter.
Good job, Jets, running that ship into the ground.
I ain't complaining.
I ain't complaining.
Anyway, five minutes on the clock.
A bunch of random questions, completely unrelated to fights, and we are off.
All right.
Question one.
Limp biscuit or corn?
Limp biscuit.
I'm a hip-hop guys.
There you go.
Tupac or Biggie?
Oh, really?
Tupac.
Is a hot dog a sandwich?
No.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Correct.
Most overrated musician.
Most overrated musician.
I mean, my sister-in-law was banging on the counting crows recently, but I always thought they were pretty good.
How old were you when you learned to ride a bike?
Young.
Jose Young.
I was probably four or five.
Indiana Jones or Han Solo?
Indiana Jones.
Really?
I'm not a Star Wars guy.
Han Solo is a Star Wars record?
I've never seen any of those movies.
How old were you when you learned to talk about?
your shoes. Probably older
than when I learned to ride a bike. I remember
getting my shoelaces wrapped around the
bicycle chain. Eight years old.
Jason, Michael Myers, or Freddy Kruger?
Jason Michael
Myers. Jason.
Charlie Brown Christmas or How the Grinch
Stole Christmas? How the Grinch stole Christmas?
Live action or cartoon? Live action.
There's multiple. I got a lot of Christmas
beer for a Jewish guy. A lot of Christmas beer.
Most overrated Halloween candy.
they still like people still give out whoppers huh you don't like woppers no are those malted milk balls
yeah yeah yeah i'm a big whoppers guy you like york peppermen patties too then don't you i don't like
chocolate and mint combo no i like them separated uh five best fictional dogs five best fictional dogs
i mean clifford the big red dog sure i mean old yeller wasn't fictional what's the next question
two people you wouldn't mind being stuck in the middle of in a cross-country flight
Bill Belichick to be sure and uh
you know I would probably say Joe Rogan because we don't get that much time to talk
outside of mixed martial arts now that I'm doing the post-fight shows so uh
Joe Rogan Joe B said Kanye and Taylor Swift just for the drama
dream car you know I always wanted a Maserati but I would say right now
I it's probably a Porsche SUV of some kind
what's one word that you can never spell correctly the first time in zetiku my colleague
or sanco can spell it correctly i can say it but kennedy in zechiku n z i'm not even going to
try it in zechoku very difficult ufcce headliner kennedy inject that's right that's right
uh favorite romance movie i my girl i don't even know is that really a romance no i mean
i i told you pop culturally you're going to really expose me
Favorite Kung Fu movie?
No idea.
Oh, man.
You have a whole world of just...
Yeah, I haven't seen anything.
I'm going to answer for him,
drunken master too.
There you go.
Favorite superhero?
Well, that I can...
I mean, that's like my vernacular.
I would probably say the Incredible Hulk.
Why?
This is just from my education.
Because my son and I just like to smash each other
and wrestle right now, so...
Hulk is a very good.
Coffee or tea?
I love them both, but coffee, say coffee, preferred.
Coffee?
Coffee.
From Dunk and Donuts.
coffee will talk favorite ice cream flavor so i have like some lactose intolerance right i remember uh i
used to when i had real bad issues with lactose i would like i would like eat an ice cream sandwich
and spit it in the sink just so i could taste it favorite movie starring the rock i know which one
it is but i forget the name of it um but he was like on a boat and it was pretty crazy oh okay uh
is it the jungle cruise one no i don't know sorry first celebrity crush first celebrity crush first celebrity
Oh, man.
Don't date yourself.
Kim Shu.
I dated myself a little bit.
Double one.
Double up on that one.
Damn, we got a bunch of random questions.
First of you bought with your own money.
Probably Illa Scratch or some hip-hop artist from that era.
Mine was Ride the Lightning by Metallica.
I was nine, and I had to get my neighbor's brother to come with me because it was parental advisory.
Wow.
I might have been like Weird Al Yankovich or Nirvana or something, but Ill-Ale-Sk.
scratch, I remember early on.
Favorite soup.
Favorite soup.
I like a good tomato soup. I'm not going to lie.
I thought you're going to say clam chowder.
Yeah, I got lactose issues, bro.
You don't like Star Wars, so that's not even a thing.
Sorry.
Yeah.
I'm not a movie guy.
Snowboarding or skiing?
Snowboarding, to be sure.
I've never put on snow skis in my life.
It is on my bucket list, but snowboarding, yes.
Favorite art piece that you've seen?
You, geez, man.
I mean, see how exposed I get when he starts talking about, like, real shit?
Like not about sports?
And the last one.
Oh, what's one fictional character you would love to get into a fist fight with?
Maui from Moana.
Why?
Let's go.
I'm the underdog in most fights, you know?
I was at soccer practice with my daughter the other day, and one of these dads, you know, is like giving me the dirty.
I like, this dude would beat me nine out of ten times in a fights, but let's go, Maui.
Let's go.
So is that your favorite movie start?
The Rock Playing Maui.
I loved.
Moana.
Well, there you go.
Absolutely.
Yeah, that's a good one.
So anyway, that's the end of the mystery bucket question.
Thanks so much for doing this, John.
Dude, I appreciate you and all your hard work.
Glad to do it and chop it up with you.
And hopefully it's not the last time.
We'll have you back on and do Tampa Bay Sports.
Let's do it.
Because I can't tell you nothing about Tampa Bay.
I still think Wade Box is like the greatest.
Like Devil, Devil Waze.
Yeah.
We'll talk.
We could talk baseball for a while.
Yeah.
Anyway, thank you guys so much for watching.
This has been John.
This is Jose.
We're out.
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap.
You're almost at the finish line.
But first, there, the last one.
Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that refreshes.
